Ruthless (Gary Allan album)
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| Ruthless | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | June 25, 2021 | |||
| Recorded | 2013–January 2020 | |||
| Studio | Blackbird (Berry Hill, Tennessee)[1] | |||
| Genre | Country | |||
| Length | 46:18 | |||
| Label | EMI Nashville | |||
| Producer |
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| Gary Allan chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Ruthless | ||||
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Ruthless is the tenth studio album by American country music artist Gary Allan, released on June 25, 2021, by EMI Nashville. It is Allan's first album of new material in over eight years since Set You Free was released in 2013.
Between 2015 and 2020, Allan released a number of singles that did not appear on albums due to their poor chart performance. In May 2021, he previewed the track "Temptation" online and announced that his new album would be coming out in June.[2]
Allan co-produced the album with Tony Brown, Mark Wright, Greg Droman, and Jay Joyce. He recorded over thirty songs across multiple sessions between 2013 and 2020 and selected thirteen of them to make up the album.[3][4] The last songs were done in January 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic.[4] Many of the musicians who played on Allan's 1999 album, Smoke Rings in the Dark, also contributed.[5]
On the creation of the album, Allan said:
This is a montage of everything I have done since my last album. It's what I love. I remain influenced by the '90s—as well as the '80s. Twenty-six tracks were cut for this album. Then I went back to the studio and recorded three or four more tracks. Then I returned for two more. From each of these many sessions, I stripped out the cool stuff I wanted on the record.[3]
The album's lead single, "Waste of a Whiskey Drink", was released in December 2020.[6]
The album was released on vinyl on October 22, 2021.[7]
Critical reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [1] |
| Slant Magazine | [8] |
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic gave Ruthless three and a half stars out of five and described the album as "steeped in the rocking country of the 1990s", while also pointing out Allan's "older...but not tired" sound.[1]
Jim Malec of Slant Magazine gave the album one and a half stars out of five.[8] Malec called the album a "casually sexist exercise in mediocrity" by criticizing his portrayal of women as nothing more than objects of the male gaze.[8]
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Temptation" |
| 2:55 | |
| 2. | "Waste of a Whiskey Drink" |
|
| 3:24 |
| 3. | "Till It Felt Like You" |
|
| 3:41 |
| 4. | "Slide" |
|
| 3:05 |
| 5. | "Pretty Damn Close" |
|
| 3:45 |
| 6. | "High as I've Ever Been" |
|
| 3:53 |
| 7. | "What I Can't Talk About" |
|
| 4:02 |
| 8. | "SEX" |
| 3:03 | |
| 9. | "Trouble Knows Trouble" |
|
| 3:28 |
| 10. | "Ruthless" |
| 3:37 | |
| 11. | "Unfiltered" |
| Jay Joyce | 3:19 |
| 12. | "Little Glass of Wine" | Jesse Winchester |
| 4:06 |
| 13. | "The Hard Way" |
|
| 4:00 |
| Total length: | 46:18 | |||
Personnel
Credits are adapted from Tidal.[9]
Musicians
- Gary Allan – vocals, acoustic guitar (11)
- John Lancaster – acoustic piano (1, 3, 5), synthesizers (1, 2, 7, 9, 13), Hammond B3 organ (3, 5–7), Wurlitzer electric piano (4, 6, 10, 12), organ (13)
- Steve Nathan – keyboards (1), acoustic piano (2), Hammond B3 organ (4, 10), synthesizers (8), Wurlitzer electric piano (9)
- David Huff – programming (1)
- Jay Joyce – keyboards (11), programming (11), electric guitar (11), tambourine (11)
- Tom Bukovac – electric guitar (1, 3–9, 13), acoustic guitar (2, 7)
- Rob McNelley – electric guitar (1, 4, 8), acoustic guitar (2, 9)
- David Steele – electric guitar (3, 5, 6, 12, 13)
- Tim Galloway – acoustic guitar (3, 5, 12, 13)
- Greg Droman – acoustic 12-string guitar (3), electric bass (3)
- Ryan Warner – electric guitar (7, 11), slide guitar (7)
- Anthony Rankin – acoustic guitar (11), electric guitar (11), backing vocals (11)
- Dan Dugmore – steel guitar (1, 2, 4–6, 8–10, 12), acoustic guitar (2, 8), dobro (4, 10), lap steel guitar (6), pedal steel guitar (6)
- C. J. Udeen – pedal steel guitar (11)
- Michael Rhodes – bass guitar (1–6, 8–10, 13)
- Brian Arsenault – bass guitar (7, 11, 12)
- Chad Cromwell – drums (1–6, 8–10, 13), percussion (6)
- Larry Babb – drums (7, 11, 12)
- Steve Marcantonio – tambourine (2, 10), percussion (4)
- Eric Darken – percussion (3, 13)
- Levi Dennis – fiddle (6, 12), acoustic guitar (7), viola (7)
- Carole Rabinowitz – cello (1)
- Kristin Wilkinson – viola (1), string arrangements and direction (1)
- David Angell – violin (1)
- David Davidson – violin (1)
- Conni Ellisor – violin (1)
- Alicia Enstrom – violin (1)
- Jim Hoke – horns (10), horn direction (10)
- Steve Herrman – horns (10)
- Sarah Buxton – backing vocals (1, 2, 4, 8–10)
- Perry Coleman – backing vocals (1, 2, 4, 8–10)
- Jaime Hanna – backing vocals (3, 5–7)
- Marilyn Martin – backing vocals (3, 12)
- Ron Ellis – backing vocals (4)
Technical
- Jay Joyce – production, mixing, recording
- Greg Droman – production, mixing
- Gary Allan – production
- Tony Brown – production
- Mark Wright – production
- Steve Marcantonio – mixing, recording
- Seth Morton – assistant engineer, assistant recording
- Jimmy Mansfield – assistant engineer, assistant recording
- Jason Hall – engineer